Urban Cowboy
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- This article is about the 1980 film. For the Broadway musical of the same name, see Urban Cowboy. Not to be confused with Midnight Cowboy or Drugstore Cowboy.
| Urban Cowboy | |
 Urban Cowboy theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | James Bridges |
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| Produced by | Irving Azoff Robert Evans |
| Written by | James Bridges Aaron Latham |
| Starring | John Travolta Debra Winger Scott Glenn Barry Corbin Madolyn Smith Coynard Coyle |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 6, 1980 |
| Running time | 132 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
Urban Cowboy is a 1980 American romantic drama film about the love-hate relationship between cowboy Bud Davis (John Travolta) and cowgirl Sissy (Debra Winger).
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[edit] Storyline
The movie starts out with Bud Davis moving to Pasadena, Texas from Spur, Texas.[1] He soon finds work at an oil refinery with his uncle Bob. Bud quickly discovers and embraces the city's nightlife, which is centered around a bar called Gilley's (once a real country bar owned by Sherwood Cryer located in Pasadena, Texas).
Bud meets Sissy in Gilley's, and after a quick courtship, the two get married. It isn't long after the wedding that they visit the bar, and they learn that a mechanical bull has been recently installed. Bud finds himself excelling at the mechanical rodeo, but feels both protective and perhaps a bit threatened by Sissy's desire to learn to ride. Bud forbids Sissy to ride it, causing a rift in their still-new relationship.
While Bud is working at the refinery, Sissy decides she is going to learn how to ride the mechanical bull to impress her over-protective husband. She goes back to bar and rides the bull during the day, keeping her lessons a secret from Bud.
Once Sissy has perfected her bull riding technique with the help of an ex-convict (Wes Hightower, portrayed by Scott Glenn) that has begun working at the bar, she decides to reveal her new talent to her husband. Sissy rides and the crowd marvels at how well she does. Jealous of the attention, Bud decides he is going to show her up despite the back injury he had sustained at work that day. Operating the mechanical bull is the ex-convict Wes, who has developed an attraction to Sissy during their daily lessons. Wes sees Bud's attempt to ride as an opportunity to move in on Sissy because of the obvious fight that is escalating between her and Bud at the bar. Bud is thrown from the bull, breaking his arm and further injuring his back. They have a very heated argument at home and Bud slaps Sissy. The next night after getting off of work Bud goes to Gilleys only to find Sissy with Wes. They have another argument and Bud tries to find a girl to make Sissy jealous.Sissy then tries to go to bed with Wes, but stops before doing anything. Bud, though, really goes to bed with a girl he met at Gilley's, Pam (Madolyn Smith). The next day, Sissy returns to the trailer and finds it empty.When Bud does finally get home he is greeted by Sissy and her packed suitcase. Sissy, angry at Bud, starts an affair with Wes.
Finally, the day of the contest arrives, with Bud and Wes pitted against several other contestants for the $5,000 grand prize. Both Bud and Wes make it to the final round with three other contestants, with Bud eventually emerging victorious by one point. Meanwhile, Wes hits Sissy after she refuses to go to Mexico with him. After accepting his award, Bud's girlfriend Pam urges him to reconcile with Sissy, since she believes he trained and won for Sissy and not for her. Bud goes looking for Sissy and sees her in the parking lot, apologizes to her and they reconcile. After seeing that Sissy has been beaten, he goes looking for Wes to fight him, not realizing that Wes had just robbed Gilley's. After finding him at the entrance to Gilley's, Bud punches Wes and all of the money that Wes stole falls out from his jacket. The Gilley's manager, discovering the attempted robbery, detains Wes at gunpoint. Bud and Sissy leave Gilley's together and later embrace in Bud's truck.
[edit] Influences
The movie's screenplay was adapted by Aaron Latham and James Bridges from an article in a men's magazine on Western nightlife written by Latham. The movie was directed by Bridges. The movie spawned a hit soundtrack album featuring such songs as Johnny Lee's "Lookin' for Love", Mickey Gilley's "Stand by Me", "Look What You've Done to Me" by Boz Scaggs, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" sung by the Charlie Daniels Band, the mega Anne Murray hit "Could I Have This Dance"(#3 A/C) and the top 5 hit "Love The World Away" by country superstar Kenny Rogers. The film is said to have started the 80's boom in country music appeal. Some film critics referred to the movie as a country music version of Saturday Night Fever. The film grossed almost $54 million in the United States alone, more than Saturday Night Fever (plus a further $24,000,000 in video rentals) and is considered to be John Travolta's last major hit before a series of flops in the upcoming decade.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Urban Cowboy |
- Urban Cowboy at the Internet Movie Database
- Urban Cowboy at the Internet Broadway Database
- Urban Cowboy at Allmovie
- Urban Cowboy at Rotten Tomatoes
- Production: Urban Cowboy - Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2003
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